In conflict and post-conflict zones, such as Colombia, there is often a tendency to treat victims only as victims—instead of hearing what they have to say about what they expect. Here are voices of women from Colombia and elsewhere, including…

In response to the killing of human rights defender Ángel Estuardo Quevedo on July 12, 2018 in the municipality of Santa Rosa de Lima, Guatemala, KAIROS has joined over 60 civil society organizations from across Canada and the United States…

In the Magdalena Medio region of Colombia, where the Organización Femenina Popular (Popular Feminist Organization or OFP) operates, a climate of political uncertainty, social insecurity, and economic precarity prevails. While the signing of the Final Peace Agreement—unprecedented in its inclusion…

KAIROS Canada hosts Colombian partner, Organización Femenina Popular for panel on Women, Peace and Security (Toronto, ON) – Two Colombian women peace builders will visit Toronto on May 4 to share their work in empowering women victims of Colombia’s 50-year…

KAIROS is gravely concerned about the political and human rights crisis currently unfolding in Honduras following the presidential elections on November 26. Hondurans who went to the polls peacefully and in good faith were met with illegal interference from President…

Re: “House subcommittee hearings on mining in Latin America a public disservice,” (The Hill Times, Oct. 18, p. 15). KAIROS too is alarmed that the voices of people affected by Canadian mining operations have not been heard during the current…

Searching for Indigenous, or Indigena (the Spanish word for Indigenous that is used in Guatemala) solutions for change is a task many revolutionaries have taken on across the world, and it can be complex. If you’re from Canada you will…

We arrived in Guatemala City late Saturday night. Inside the hostel there was a bare wall where a lonely 14 inch TV aired the McGregor / Mayweather fight. What a spectacle. I knew before attending this exchange that there are…

It was so exciting – and such a relief – to meet up with members of the KAIROS Blanket Exercise Youth Exchange at the airport this afternoon before boarding our flight to Guatemala. Although we’ve had several orientation conference calls…

My name is Tyra Cox and I am of Sahtu Dene and Anishinaabe lineage within Canada (North America). As an Indigenous women, there were very specific areas of Indigenous rights that I wanted to explore on the journey with Central…

I’m fortunate to be a part of the first KAIROS Blanket Exercise youth exchange to Guatemala being organized in partnership with Breaking the Silence and New Hope Foundation, Guatemala At the end of May, we had the opportunity to meet…

I have the privilege of being one of the participants of the KAIROS Guatemala Youth Exchange, and it has been an amazing experience so far. I am a settler living in unceded Mi’kmaq territory under the Peace and Friendship treaties…

The history of Indigenous peoples on the northern part of Turtle Island, what is now known as Canada, was told through a Kairo Blanket Exercise at St. Paul’s Anglican Church in Southampton on June 21. Reverend Graham Bland of St….

Excerpts from an Interview with Lilian Bolvito Gonzalez on Radio Canada International, June 24, 2017 Radio Canada: We will now chat with a Guatemalan youth who participated in the Blanket Exercise on June 2 on Parliament Hill in Ottawa. Her name…

On April 13, 2014, unknown gunmen attacked 16-year-old Topacio Reynoso Pacheco and her father, Alex Reynoso, killing Topacio and leaving Alex seriously injured. Both were active in their municipality of Mataquescuintla, standing up for land and the health of the…

GREAT NEWS! Yesterday the Ecuadorian Ministry of the Environment decided not to grant the request to close Acción Ecológica. National and international pressure was key. Dearest friends, We want to publicly acknowledge the thousands of letters, embraces and messages that we…

From October 14 to 23, Rachel Warden, Latin America Partnerships and Gender Justice coordinator, traveled to Ecuador to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Accion Ecologica, KAIROS’ long time partner, and to participate in the Latin America Network of Women Defenders’ fourth…

The day after my arrival in Colombia I was travelling on the Magdalena Medio river in a small ferry with Gloria Amparo, coordinator of the Popular Feminist Organization (OFP), to visit women’s centres (casas de Mujeres) in Puerte Wilches and…

Partner Tour to highlight violence against women in Colombia and Canada The United Nations has declared the period between November 25, the International Day to End Violence against Women and December 10, International Human Rights day, as 16 Days of…

Gloria Amparo Suarez of the Organización Femenina Popular (OFP), a Colombian women’s rights organization and KAIROS partner, will visit Canada from Nov 23 to Dec 4. The KAIROS sponsored educational tour is timed to include the 16 Days of Activism…

KAIROS stands with the Popular Feminist Organization (OFP), our partner in Colombia, as they prepare for the plebiscite on October 2 when Colombians will vote on the recently signed final Peace Accord. The OFP is currently working and praying for…

Guatemalan partner Ana Guadalupe Matzir Miculax joined us in Ottawa for the KAIROS Time for Reconciliation gathering and the closing ceremony of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), May 29-June 3 in Ottawa. An important part of our work with…

Deep in our hearts and minds we have felt the presence of the Risen Christ in our midst. We have also powerfully felt the presence of the children, youth, women and men who have been murdered and disappeared in this long internal…

OTTAWA OFFICE

KAIROS: Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives acknowledges that the Toronto office is on the traditional territory of the Huron-Wendat, Seneca and Mississaugas of the New Credit Indigenous Peoples. The Ottawa office is on the unceded traditional territory of the Algonquin Peoples.